The liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina hired 151 new employees with an average age of 37 during fiscal 2020.
As a result, the average age of the 2,600-person workforce at Amentum-led Savannah River Remediation (SRR) is 48-years old, Phil Breidenbach, president & project manager of the joint venture said during an early-morning zoom presentation today. Breidenbach made his comments to the local Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness group in South Carolina.
The DOE’s Office of Environmental Management last month announced plans to extend SRR’s tenure at least through Sept. 30, 2021, with three additional four-month option periods that could keep the incumbent on the job through September 2022. The agency also just issued a request for proposals for a new long-term contract for the liquid waste work and operation of the recently-completed Salt Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River.
“2020 sent us a lot of curve balls,” Breidenbach said. “The biggest curve was COVID-19.” When the Savannah River Site, like most other DOE nuclear cleanup properties, cut back to reduced staffing in March due to the pandemic, SRR was able to quickly convert 40% of its workforce to telework, he said.
Savannah River Remediation is now starting a phased approach to bringing many of those remote workers back inside the fence, said Breidenbach.
During the presentation, Breidenbach praised Parsons for its completion of the Salt Waste Processing Facility, and said SRR moved the first 4,000 gallons of low-radioactive salt waste to the new plant this week. Parsons will continue hot commissioning of the new facility over the next three-to-four months with full operations starting in early 2021.
